Environmentalists were appalled — if not necessarily surprised — by Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s statement Tuesday that she does not “have firm views” on climate change, an ostensibly neutral comment that critics said is tantamount to denial of the science.
“Quite simply, if you’re neutral on climate change, you’re complicit in the collapse of the planetary ecosystem upon which the survival of every living thing depends,” meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote late Tuesday in response to Barrett’s remarks.
Asked by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) — an outspoken opponent of bold climate action — whether she has “opinions” on climate change, Barrett said during Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that she is “certainly not a scientist.”
“I mean, I’ve read things about climate change,” the judge added. “I would not say that I have firm views on it.”
Watch:
Barrett: "I'm certainly not a scientist. I have read things about climate change. I would not say I have firm views on it."
We don’t need a climate denier on the Supreme Court.https://t.co/hSud9hNYwx
— Dr. Leah C. Stokes (@leahstokes) October 13, 2020
Barrett’s comments drew immediate backlash from environmentalists and experts who noted that one need not be a scientist to recognize the reality of human-caused climate change.
“Not being an astronomer, I can’t really offer an opinion on whether a giant asteroid crashing into the planet would be desirable,” joked 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben.
In his newsletter on Tuesday, Holthaus wrote that he is “pretty f’n pissed” at Barrett’s casual refusal to acknowledge the reality of the “most consequential issue of our time.”
“It’s the line ‘I’m certainly not a scientist’ that is perhaps so surreal,” wrote Holthaus. “This has been the standard, canned answer that climate deniers have given for years. But now it’s 2020. We’re in a pandemic. You don’t need to be a scientist to be able to listen to scientists. For someone whose ENTIRE JOB depends on carefully evaluating evidence, not having any ‘firm views’ on climate change is an unrecoverable fatal flaw.”
Andy Rowell, a staff blogger for advocacy group Oil Change International, noted Tuesday that while Barrett’s record on cases related to the environment “is sparse, there are deep alarm bells ringing.”
“Our colleagues at Earthjustice have been fighting in the courts on behalf of our planet and its people for decades,” Rowell noted. “They have expressed ‘deep concern that the rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett could threaten our shared future.’ Earthjustice also argues that ‘Judge Barrett appears willing to undermine our environmental laws’ and that her ‘record demonstrates her willingness to interpret environmental laws like the Clean Water Act narrowly in favor of industry interests.'”
The Daily Poster’s David Sirota, Andrew Perez, and Walker Bragman reported Wednesday morning that as Senate Republicans rush ahead with Barrett’s confirmation process, the Supreme Court is “preparing to hear a climate case involving fossil fuel giants, including Shell Oil, where her father spent much of his career.”
“Less than two weeks before the confirmation hearings, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by Royal Dutch Shell and other oil giants that are being sued by cities and states for the climate damage those companies created,” the journalists wrote. “Shell and the others are asking justices to allow the case to be heard in federal court… The upcoming climate case is particularly important for the fossil fuel industry as it seeks to ward off a wave of climate litigation.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy